SAHRR 2023

 This is the 3rd year for SAHRR (Stay at Home Round Robin). This challenge was born out of the COVID years. A team of quilters heading by Gail @QuiltingGail, announce a weekly challenge for each round. Starting with a center block (either new of orphaned) - Week one and continuing for 6 weeks of rounds. 

It is your choice on how to interpret the rounds and how you choose to make your quilt. There are really no rules to follow as it is your quilt!

This year I will start with an orphaned Halloween quilt block that I made back on 2012 for the Wicked Blog Hop. I am not a big Halloween fan (although my opinion has changed a bit since my grandson was born) so I don't have any Halloween quilts. I made one of the blocks from the blog hop into a wall hanging for my daughter but the rest are in the orphaned basket. 

I picked this haunted house block as my center block. It is a 12" block.

Even though I am not a Halloween fan, I do have a fat-quarter bundle of Halloween fabric that I won many years ago and a few other pieces. We will see how this goes as my schedule is pretty full. 

Looking forward to the next clue.

Linking to Quilting Gail

Stop by to see how others are starting their SAHRR this year!

RSC Buttons

 I was able to make 2 more blue button blocks this week! My goal is 4 per month or 1 a week. These blocks sew together very quickly! I think it may have taken me longer to pull the fabric scraps and cut the pieces! 🤣

 I am ahead of the game because this is Week 2 for Scrap Happy Saturday! One more block to make!

I am linking to Scrap Happy Saturday @So Scrappy. 

I started a new quilt that I purchased fabric for in August on our trip to Missouri Star Co. The pattern, Harmony and Light, is from Christina Cameli @afewscraps that was free through Quilting Daily. I purchased ombre by V & Co. in a variety of colors. 

I realized I was a bit short so after searching online, I found some more (this is an older line of V & Co ombre) on Etsy and ordered it. My package was sent out and the tracking notice came that it was delivered! I was excited and as soon as I came home from work, I checked my mail! It wasn't there. What! So I contacted USPS and made a report. (this isn't the 1st time this happened). To my surprise, my local PO called the very next day and said they would keep tracking my package. My mail carrier was so very helpful and sincere. She tried over several days to retrieve the package from the house that it was delivered to (1558 instead of 1358) keeping her supervisors and me informed of her attempts. Yesterday, she finally had the package and went out of her way to hand deliver it to me! It gave me renewed hope for USPS as my 1st package was never retrieved.  

Since it is January, I thought I would show you my December calendar journal. I'm not sure if I showed every month (I'll have to go back and take a look) but I did keep up and have 2022 completed.  I will continue with the calendar journals in 2023!

For the last 2 years, I have watched my grandson, Magnus, 1 or 2 days a week to help out my daughter and son-in-law. During this time we have had many adventures together and created a undeniable bond! Here are a couple of pictures from out latest adventure to a local library.

maze board-quite the concentration!

ball machine-so much fun!

gear board-another fun activity

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to babysit our granddaughter, Freya for several hours while her mom had a photo shoot and dad had a dr. appt. Now that Freya is just about 8 months, it is so much fun to watch her discover and play! She is a sweet girl, easy to smile with her big, blue eyes. She loves to try new foods! No baby food for this girl! She wants what you have. Watch out, she may steal right from your plate! Here are a couple of pictures from our time together!

the fabric ball I made for Magnus when he was a baby, 

the booties I knitted for her.

tried to capture a selfie

loves these waffles

Looking forward to more one-on-one time with her as she gets bigger!

First Finish of 2023!

 Today I present my first finish of 2023! Originally, I was hoping that I could have finished this quilt before the holidays, however, although it was pieced, I simply ran out of time without making myself crazy! I'm calling it Big Red Truck. 

I started with a holiday panel I bought last year at the end of the season sale. I watched this video by @Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Co. on How to make an Attic Windows quilt using a panel. Every panel is different, but I was able to glean the information I needed to start my project. I divided my panel into 9 window panes. This took a bit of figuring out because I didn't want to 'lose' too much of the snowman. 

I really like the 3D effect of this quilt. 

I used some green holly fabric that I had in my stash for the borders. I like how it coordinated with the holly at each corner of the panel. 

I quilted the window casing and trim with straight lines in white and brown to match. In the window panes I randomly FMQ a stipple pattern in white. It really adds to the snowy scene! The borders were also stipple quilted with green thread to match the holly. 

I had another green holly print in my stash that I used for the backing.

For the binding, I found a piece of fabric in my stash that was cream with a green and red 'plaid' pattern. I like how it frames the quilt! 

This quilt finishes at 51.5" x 59.5"

The only purchase for this quilt was the panel in early 2022! Yay for using up some of my Christmas fabric! I'll keep this quilt out to enjoy for the winter months with my snowman collection!

I'm linking to Finished or Not Friday @AlyciaQuilts, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Fun Friday Foto @Poweredbyquilting

The new year brings a new RSC! I was able to finish all 3 of my 2022 RSC quilts! See them here, here and here! 

I decided that doing 3 blocks each month was a bit much so I will be making only one block this month. I have chosen to make button blocks. I will make 1 block a week (4 total blocks) in the color of the month. January's color is blue (dark and bright blues). The blocks are 6".

The inspiration for this came from this rug which is in a classroom that I substitute teach in. 

This reminds me of all the buttons in my grandma's button box that I used to love to sort through so many years ago. Now my grandson loves to play with my buttons! Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday@SoScrappy

This is a good start to 2023! Happy Quilting! 

Best of 2022

 Each year Cheryl over at Meadow Mist Designs hosts a linky party for the 'BEST of' your blog for that year! No set way to decide which are the best! It is up to you which is nice because sometimes my favorite don't get a lot of 'eyes' or comments for whatever reason. So here are my top picks:

Coming in 5th is my April 30th post revealing my Simple and Sweet baby quilt gifted to my daughter for my granddaughter, Freya! I love the colors in this quilt (chosen by my daughter) and is one of my favorites but for some reason didn't get as many views. I loved making this pattern from PenandPaperPatterns...I've made it 2 times in completely different colors!

Next in the countdown is my June 26th post revealing my daughter and son-in-laws wedding quilt! This was another fun quilt to make! At my first look at the pattern, I thought 'How does this work?' The pattern is well written and the technique is clever. My plan is to make another quilt in different colors!

Coming in 3rd is my September 22nd post revealing my Forest Friends baby quilt gifted to a close family friend expecting her first baby. This pattern is all paper pieced. I changed some of the blocks slightly and added the words which I embroidered as well as the eyes.

Coming in next is a tie, both with 12 comments. The first is a post from July 15th, revealing my Sweet Summer Strawberries quilt. This quilt is so fresh looking and makes me want to taste some sweet strawberries! 

The second post that tied is my November 6th post revealing the 1st RSC quilt from 2022 that I finished...Kaleidoscope! Many people commented on the quilting I did on this quilt!

My overall 'Best of 2022' is my November 18th blog post revealing my Squiggles quilt finish. Squiggles was a RSC quilt for 2022. I made 3 different RSC blocks/quilts during 2022 but Squiggles was always a favorite among my readers!

Thanks to all that read my blog and to the many comments! 2022 was a good year finishing 16 quilts! Besides quilting, I made many knitting projects for charity with my knitting group! I also made fabric postcards for my grandchildren, a technique I've been wanting to make for many years!

Thanks to Cheryl for hosting this party. Head on over and see what others have done this year!

Yay! Another finish and more

This morning I took this quilt out of the dryer! The last stitches in the binding were made last night and I immediately threw it in the laundry for a wash and then the dryer before heading to bed. Don't you just love a freshly washed and dried quilt?

Fair and Square is my 3rd RSC quilt for the year and it is finished!

I used gray scraps for the background and color scraps for the blocks all from my scrap bins. The gray and white marble are scraps from a wedding quilt I made earlier this year. The gray border and binding fabrics are from my stash. 

The backing fabric is also from my stash. I added a strip of yellow to 

make the stripe fabric wider to fit. 

I love how the backing coordinates with the rainbow of the blocks!

All blocks are machine stitched and I machine quilted in straight lines both 

vertically and horizontally.

This quilt finishes at approx. 40" x 52" - a good lap sized quilt!

I'm linking to Scrap Happy Saturday @SoScrappy, Off the Wall Friday @ Creations-Quilts, Art, Whatever, Can I get a Whoop, Whoop @Confessions of a Fabric Addict

For Thanksgiving, I made these fabric postcards for my grandson and granddaughter. I follow the tutorial by Annie. She make beautiful postcards and

 art of all kinds!

Aren't these turkeys so cute!

The back before I wrote a special message to each of them. 

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving! 

As we enter into the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, may we take time 

to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas, find time to enjoy family 

and friends and time to relax and care for ourselves. Enjoy!

Another Rainbow Scrap Finish

I have another RSC finish for 2022! All year long I worked on 3 different blocks for the challenge. This year's challenge is just about over and we are supposed to be working on finishing them up. On my last post, I showed my 1st finish,      Kaleidoscope. Today I'm posting about my Squiggles quilt finish!  

Squiggles was made from the bonus HSTs from the Kaleidoscope quilt plus a few additional  2 1/2" squares. It is my second of 3 RSC quilts made during 2022. This is a baby size quilt. All the fabrics were from my scraps and the backing is from my stash. I bought the white with black polka dots for the border because it coordinated with the backing and the black with white polka dots for the binding. 

Squiggles is a fun block to sew together but it was nice to have the HSTs already made. I am so glad I decided to use them in this quilt right away rather than in my orphaned blocks basket.

I quilted stitch in the ditch around each Squiggle , then a simple pattern each squiggle. In the background squiggles, I quilted the same pattern with variegated thread. I quilted a simple straight lines in the borders.

  

This little quilt finished size is approx. 30" x 38". 

I'm linking to Scrap Happy Saturday @ SoScrappy,  Off the Wall Fridays @ Creations-Quilts, Art, Whatever,  Finished or Not Fridays @ Alycia Quilts, Linky Party @Patchwork Quilts, Friday Foto Fun @ Powered By Quilting, Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Rainbow Scrap Finish!

 Yesterday I put the last stitches in the binding of my RSC quilt, Hang Ten! This is the first of 3 RSC quilts that I have been working on in 2022. 

This quilt is made with the block Hang Time my Melissa Corry @Happy Quilting. Way back in January, I mistakenly called it Hang Ten. Since I have been calling it Hang Ten every month since, I'm sticking with it! EDIT: After looking at the pictures more, I've decided to change the name to Kaleidoscope. Doesn't the quilting and the rainbow colors just remind you of looking thru a kaleidoscope?

This quilt is all machine pieced and machine quilted. The Rainbow Scrap Challenge colors are announced each month by Angela @SoScrappy through October. November and December are to add to and/or finish up your quilt in time for the new year! I added a peach and gray block to round out the number of blocks to 12. 

All the fabrics are from my scrap bins or my stash except the rose print used in the border and to extend the backing. I love that I found this backing in my stash (inherited from my mom's sewing room) that is a perfect fit for the colorful top!

I machine quilted in a swirl about 3/4" apart in each block 

overlapping the quilting into the adjacent block. 

I love the texture that was created. I straight-line 

quilted every 3/4" in the borders. 

This quilt finished at 53" x 68"

I'm linking to Scrap Happy Saturday @SoScrappy,  Off the Wall Fridays @Creations-Quilts, Art, Whatever, Linky Party @Patchwork & Quilts and Friday Foto Fun @Powered by Quilting
Linking to Favorite Finish @Meadow Mist Designs